Expect it to be coherent and concise (Whiskey Drinker reviews)

[hillbilly]

InFlatable---- The western thing was cool, thought you were going all bad azz, then you ordered a coke. good job. vote for the effort.

if anyone ever kicks my azz on a bike, I'm looking for you.

[Paco Del Stinko]

Berkeley Social Scene - I wonder if the minor key feel of the verses, and major of the choruses, might have been fun to hear reveresed. Martin seems more bummy on the choruses, yet the music is a bit more upbeat. Not a complaint, just an idear. Fun lead section swivel.

Big Crouton - Nice to hear you again, BC. This is completely giant and without flaw that I can hear. Maybe the melody doesn't vary much, but all the sections work. Would be perfect for a Patrick Swayze movie, if he had made good movies. Somehow, that is meant as a compliment. Superb guitarage.

Bombernaughts - Happy Yoko. I enjoy all of the componants that make this up although they are too Midi feeling for my liking. The end could have benfitted from a repeat of the chorus with layered, higher register vocals, perhaps. Very serious mood. I like it in the mix of songs here.

CazaroTaro - This is fun dumb. Or dumb fun, whatever. I like the simple minded narrator, a humanized robot discovering booze for the first time. Some of the synth lines sound casually tossed off, but that adds to their appeal, this time.

Cookie Blue - Nice melody and the evolution of the chord progression is very good. The vocal harmonies fit nicely and aren't overdone although overlapping vocals would have been very tasty during the end "no chaser" section. Bring them in on the third repeat to maintain the power of the line.

Ice Weasels - Echoes of Guided By Voices. I like the two different chords playing at the same time sound, however you are obtaining it. I keep waiting for the bottom end to kick in but it doesn''t. Guess it doesn't HAVE to be there, but I'm hankerin' to hear it. Harmonica somehow a good fit, nice choice.

Inflatable Vegetables - This is right up my alley, although I would have added a Baritone guitar in place of the treble guitar. The lyrics could have benfitted from some editing to make them fit/flow better, all the way through. The story is good enough though, with the legend of the Sasparilla drinking biker. Instrumentation is well chosen.

Jerkatorium - Great energy and as I come to expect now, fantastic backing vocals. They really help everything along and do not get in the way. Some funny lyrics, good melodies. I am not fooled by the guitars, however. They are well played but I would not have guessed that they were amped. Not a complaint, just a comment, as they do everything that they need to do. Another gem.

Macaque Attack - Talk about dark, sheesh. I do love me some dark though. Somehow this is the companion piece to Big Crouton's, but not in any way similar sonically. A throat shreddinng vocal on the big choruses would have been killer to hear, killer on the throat as well. Dig the 60's scuz lead too.

The Mark Makers - Loose, sloppy and improv'd feeling, that's all ok. A mess though. More acoustic sounding drums, in a cave, perhaps a bigger reverb wash overall, might've given this a more Doors vs Pixies feel. Good toss off.

Octothorpe - Thank you, #. I am excited to hear this and the timing for all to line up for the whiskey theme seems a rather positive omen, I would think. I may have rolled my eyes at the underwear line, but smiled while doing so. Great loose fun, but I am a slo a biased fan. Regardless, thanks again for the gift.

Paco del Stinko - This came out cleaner than I had intended it to in my 'conception'. Eh. Slide is an amped and mic'd acoustic guitar that only sees light of day when I play open tuning slide. Which isn't too often. Piece o'crap with decent tone.

[ice weasel]

Ice Weasels - Echoes of Guided By Voices.

That was our intent, so I'm flattered that we pulled that off well enough that you made a connection. Thanks!

Yes, everyone who guessed Melodica, that's what it is. My new favorite instrument.

[GravityJohnson]

Hi All,

In my opinion, the best thing about Songfight is getting the reviews and feedback on songs, it really does help. So, thanks everyone for taking the time. Here are my thoughts:

Berkeley Social Scene - Nice guitar sound, pretty nice vocal melody. Guitar solo is fine but may have benefitted from a different, much dirtier, sound. Pretty catchy, nice work!

Cookie Blue - I really like this a lot, but I'm a bit of a sucker for this kind of stuff. Nicely executed sweet song shot through with melancholia. Adding another layer of guitar for the 'memory eraser' section might have been nice. Great stuff.

Ice Weasels - Good stuff. The extra guitar coming in at about the 1 minute mark really helps, I think it should have stayed in the song from then until the end. Slightly messy ending, but doesn't really detract from the song. The floor-tom (or is it a bass drum?) that runs throughout the track doesn't seem to sit in the mix ideally, what is being played is fine, just wondered if that drum needs sitting further back in the mix a bit. Overall though this is great, really catchy, reminds me of Sloan (which is a good thing!)

CazaroTaro - Not sure quite what to make of this one Fun and annoying in equal measure.

Octothorpe - Sounds like it was a good laugh, and possibly recording from a neighbouring building. Tightened up and properly recorded and it'd sounded like a B52's song

Big Crouton - A pretty serious piece of work. Nice production and guitar sounds. I particularly like the clarity of the guitars as they start/stop, not too much reverb blurring their hard edge, if you see what I mean. Guitar solo sits in the mix superbly and is played very nicely. The strings definitely add an epic quality, and a glorious quiet ending. It certainly has a nice Soundgarden quality to it. Expertly done!

Inflatable Vegetables - Firstly, wow, those horns are nasty. What they're playing is fine, it's just the sound. That aside, cool song. Vocals seem rushed at times and could possibly do with a bit more by way of affects. With a real horn player and some time, this could be polished into a really cool track. I feel it's still kinda in 'demo mode'.

Paco del Stinko - Cool guitar riff. I not a huge fan of the backing vocals but kinda like the song. Really like the ending, that works well.

Bombernaughts - Nice voice and vocal performance. This is really great but I feel it's lacking a bit of instrumentation, it could maybe benefit from some more synth or pad stuff in there, but that's just personal taste. Very nicely done. Has a slight feel of Sparks about it.

The Mark Makers - Not sure I like vocal style too much, but it may sound better under a better production. I think there is a kernal of something really good in this that hasn't been quite realised. (Could have changed your band name to 'Makers Mark' for this track

Jerkatorium - Catchy from the first second but maybe a little generic. However, that's being pretty picky because this is really nicely done. The ending is really nicely done.

In my opinion song of the week is Cookie Blue, but good work one and all.

Cheers,
Alan.

[josh]

@GravityJohnson: "The Mark Makers" is a one off band name made for this fight... well, who knows, maybe we'll do it again. But it's a play on Makers Mark Normally I work solo as "Zack Facco"

[GravityJohnson]

Sorry @Josh. You were way ahead of me, sorry about that, I was a bit slow off the mark there

[Chumpy]

Ice Weasels - Echoes of Guided By Voices.

That's weird, I don't hear the GBV similarity, what part of the song reminded you of them? Something from the Ric Ocasek period maybe? I usually associate that kind of wall of droning guitar sound with bands like My Bloody Valentine or Sonic Youth. In fact when I first heard this, I went back and listened to Loveless and remembered why I like this sound. Still mulling over who I'm going to vote for, but the Ice Weasels song is my favorite so far. Good job dudes!

[Paco Del Stinko]

Hi. I don't think the song reminded me of a particular GBV song, and I'm no expert, but the melodies throughout just brought them to mind. And the ragged ending, I suppose. Yeah, the guitars were like extra distorted Sonic Youth. I used to mess with that occadionally as well.

[josh]

Macaque Attack: Sounds very familiar on the intro. It's a little late 90's early 00's, which isn't a musical period I'm crazy about. But the sounds are very good and convincing. I'm loving all the guitar sounds. And the drums sound great. Although the kick could maybe sit a bit better in the mix. Vocals aren't always sitting well in the mix either. Popping in and out. But generally the recording is very well produced and mixed. The keys in the background are a nice touch although maybe a little less would be nice. Just tasters here and there. Great track! Do you guys have a legit recording studio set up? Both your tracks so far are very professional sounding.

Paco Del Stinko: As usually you don't disappoint. Fun vibe. Great guitar performances. Drums seem to be dragging the beat a bit at times. Maybe a bit repetitive and hangs around longer than needed. I had fun listening to this one.

IVeg: Ummm... yeah, I'm a big Morricone fan, too. Vocal performance is off at times, pitch and timing wise. Not much energy in it either. I like all the different sounds including the cheesy synth brass. Haha. You do a good job at hinting at well known Spaghetti Western melodies without outright stealing them.

[GravityJohnson]

Hi @Josh. Thank you very much for the comments, this sort of feedback is like gold dust to us. Your mix and keys comments are noted. No, we haven't got a legit studio (that'd be marvellous!). We just do mostly home recordings and occasionally hire a studio when we need to. We typically mix and master the tracks ourselves in either FL Studio or Reaper. We're looking forwards to next week too, we've just submitted our 'Incandescent' effort

[Chumpy]

Congratulations Cookie on your well deserved win and triumphant return to Song Fight! It's great to have you back.

[cookie]

Thank you Chumpy. Let's drink to that, I guess

[fluffy]

Ironic that it's A NEW PLAYER who is going to be providing the new forum titles.

[ice weasel]

Hey congrats to Cookie Blue! (I'm pretty sure it was the egg.)

[cookie]

Haha you might be right
Thanks

[GravityJohnson]

Well done Cookie Blue, a deserved victory

[fluffy]

What was the lemon for?

And does the cat affect the sound of the stompbox? (or whatever those drum box things are called, I can never remember)

[Lunkhead]

My guess is the lemon is another shaker. Also, that thing is a cajón.

[fluffy]

Right, Cajon. Does the cat affect its sound?

[cookie]

Yep it's a shaker and it was a gift. I was so happy the day I got it, so I decided it had to be in the picture. Even though it's got nothing to do with Whiskey Drinker, I used that tubey studio shaker for that. Now that I'm thinking about it, I almost only use those toy shakers when playing in the streets to make things more fun.
That dark green mega egg by the way is an avocado shaped shaker with a very soft sound. Might be the one that started my collection.

And yeah, the kitty cushion does mute the cajon a little, preventing it from sounding all noisy and cheap. It's like the blankets drummers often put into their base drum to improve its sound, just way smaller. (and cuter, duh!)

I think a real cat would affect the sound as well, but I could never convince one to get inside and try it.

[fluffy]

Oh, I thought that was an actual cat that crawled inside for the photo. :)

[cookie]

I wish it was